Sleep study in Guelph
Hi everyone,
On Monday I got a phone message from Dr. Nemni's office. I called back but by the time I got the message they were closed so I left a message to call me at work.
Yesterday morning they called back (Linda, I think) and asked me when I'd like to book a sleep study. I asked about weekends to avoid work nights, but she told me they only do Fridays, not Saturdays, and those are booked for quite while.
Then she said, 'if you want to come tonight, we just had a cancellation!' Normally I'd want to back off, think it over and worry about it, but I got caught up in the spur of the moment and said 'Sure!'
So, last night I had my sleep study! It will be a couple of weeks at least until I find out the results, but I thought, while it's all pretty fresh in my mind, you might like to hear the highlights.
Guelph's sleep lab is in the General Hospital. The main doors are closed before the check in time of 8:30 so entry is through the emergency room. A nice security guard will give directions to the lab.
The lab technicians will show you to your room (there are 4 I think), and then go to each sleep subject explaining the process and hooking up all the wires. I had a book to read while I waited, probably about an hour, but I was comfy in my pjs and slippers. The only complaint is that the room was rather hot (26 degrees C, or about a billion for us old Farenheit folks).
Mala (sorry if I got her name wrong!) turned down the temp for me as soon as she came in, and it was much more comfortable by bedtime (approx 22C.). At home my husband keeps the temp around 18 which is around 65F, even lower than the slumlord who kept our apartment at 66F back in our student days...
Oh, well, as a middle-aged peri-menopausal woman, I usually appreciate the extra chill...
Anyway, Mala was very nice and funny, and she explained everything very clearly. She also reminded me several times that I was welcome to push the call button if I had any problems (like needing to go to the bathroom 50 times during the night) and that she would be happy to help me to get 'unplugged' from the equipment when I need to go.
Lights out was at about 10:30, and they begin waking the patients around 5:30. I was home before 6:30, which was good, because it took a lot of showering to get the goo out of my hair and off my face.
It was certainly not my best night's sleep, but the bed itself was comfortable and I brought my own pillow. Fortunately I only had to call for assistance twice during the night and the second time was after 5:00, so I never really got back to sleep, which means she didn't startle me with the wake up call.
They will give you full instructions on what to do to prepare and what to bring, but, for what it's worth, here's my advice for those of you who haven't been yet, and I'm sure most of it would be general enough to be useful at other sleep labs too.
First, plan your sleepwear for the study to be light layers. I wore a long-sleeved shirt with pj pants, so I had nothing I could remove to better suit the temperature of the room. I would have been better with a tank top/pants combo or a sleeveless nightie, and a light sweatshirt in my bag, just in case.
They tell you to bring any pain meds you normally take. I had already taken my arthritis prescription, and, since I didn't have any additional pain, I left my OTC meds at home. I might recommend that you take a little pain medication ahead of time to counteract the small discomfort of the electrodes all over your head which becomes magnified when you try to sleep on them. I woke up with a nasty headache, partly from the wiring, and partly from not getting enough good sleep.
Finally, you will need to have a good hot shower afterward (at home, no shower facility there) to get the sticky stuff out of your hair (or it will look like Something About Mary, as Mala pointed out).
On her recommendation I used a liberal amount of conditioner (cheap and slippery, such as Finesse would be good) in my hair before I shampooed it, which I think loosened most of the gunk , followed by a shampoo that removes hair product build up, such as Sunsilk (cheap!) which left my hair nice and squeaky!
My regular gentle face soap didn't remove all of the sticky stuff, but some alcohol based toner removed most of the residue.
The sleep study is really nowhere near as bad as I feared. Most of it was pleasant, strangely enough...
But don't be doing any brain surgery the next day!
Best of luck to all of you who are waiting for your sleep study.
NervousNelly (Sharon)
On Monday I got a phone message from Dr. Nemni's office. I called back but by the time I got the message they were closed so I left a message to call me at work.
Yesterday morning they called back (Linda, I think) and asked me when I'd like to book a sleep study. I asked about weekends to avoid work nights, but she told me they only do Fridays, not Saturdays, and those are booked for quite while.
Then she said, 'if you want to come tonight, we just had a cancellation!' Normally I'd want to back off, think it over and worry about it, but I got caught up in the spur of the moment and said 'Sure!'
So, last night I had my sleep study! It will be a couple of weeks at least until I find out the results, but I thought, while it's all pretty fresh in my mind, you might like to hear the highlights.
Guelph's sleep lab is in the General Hospital. The main doors are closed before the check in time of 8:30 so entry is through the emergency room. A nice security guard will give directions to the lab.
The lab technicians will show you to your room (there are 4 I think), and then go to each sleep subject explaining the process and hooking up all the wires. I had a book to read while I waited, probably about an hour, but I was comfy in my pjs and slippers. The only complaint is that the room was rather hot (26 degrees C, or about a billion for us old Farenheit folks).
Mala (sorry if I got her name wrong!) turned down the temp for me as soon as she came in, and it was much more comfortable by bedtime (approx 22C.). At home my husband keeps the temp around 18 which is around 65F, even lower than the slumlord who kept our apartment at 66F back in our student days...
Oh, well, as a middle-aged peri-menopausal woman, I usually appreciate the extra chill...
Anyway, Mala was very nice and funny, and she explained everything very clearly. She also reminded me several times that I was welcome to push the call button if I had any problems (like needing to go to the bathroom 50 times during the night) and that she would be happy to help me to get 'unplugged' from the equipment when I need to go.
Lights out was at about 10:30, and they begin waking the patients around 5:30. I was home before 6:30, which was good, because it took a lot of showering to get the goo out of my hair and off my face.
It was certainly not my best night's sleep, but the bed itself was comfortable and I brought my own pillow. Fortunately I only had to call for assistance twice during the night and the second time was after 5:00, so I never really got back to sleep, which means she didn't startle me with the wake up call.
They will give you full instructions on what to do to prepare and what to bring, but, for what it's worth, here's my advice for those of you who haven't been yet, and I'm sure most of it would be general enough to be useful at other sleep labs too.
First, plan your sleepwear for the study to be light layers. I wore a long-sleeved shirt with pj pants, so I had nothing I could remove to better suit the temperature of the room. I would have been better with a tank top/pants combo or a sleeveless nightie, and a light sweatshirt in my bag, just in case.
They tell you to bring any pain meds you normally take. I had already taken my arthritis prescription, and, since I didn't have any additional pain, I left my OTC meds at home. I might recommend that you take a little pain medication ahead of time to counteract the small discomfort of the electrodes all over your head which becomes magnified when you try to sleep on them. I woke up with a nasty headache, partly from the wiring, and partly from not getting enough good sleep.
Finally, you will need to have a good hot shower afterward (at home, no shower facility there) to get the sticky stuff out of your hair (or it will look like Something About Mary, as Mala pointed out).
On her recommendation I used a liberal amount of conditioner (cheap and slippery, such as Finesse would be good) in my hair before I shampooed it, which I think loosened most of the gunk , followed by a shampoo that removes hair product build up, such as Sunsilk (cheap!) which left my hair nice and squeaky!
My regular gentle face soap didn't remove all of the sticky stuff, but some alcohol based toner removed most of the residue.
The sleep study is really nowhere near as bad as I feared. Most of it was pleasant, strangely enough...
But don't be doing any brain surgery the next day!
Best of luck to all of you who are waiting for your sleep study.
NervousNelly (Sharon)
You're lucky you had comfortable beds - it's so much better to get thru the night - I went to a different - new clinic closer to home and the beds were hard as rock, so i woke up in pain too often, at least more often than I ever have. Made me wonder about the accuracy of the test results. A put a complaint in and said I wouldn't go back or recommend anyone go there. Next Time I'll go back to the other place.
Sue in Courtice
My angel is Ashleighsmom
My angel is Ashleighsmom
Great job explaining. I went to Kitchener and they have a very comfortable area too. Great staff and they wake you by 6:30. Glad to got that over and done with!
Dr Referal October 3/10 SW NUT AND NURSE June 10/11 8am
Orientaion was March 10/11 Upper GI April 13 9am-10am HPylori Test - Negative CPAP -done
Ultra Sound -March 3/11All other tests are done!!!!! Next Appt Aug 15/2010
Orientaion was March 10/11 Upper GI April 13 9am-10am HPylori Test - Negative CPAP -done
Ultra Sound -March 3/11All other tests are done!!!!! Next Appt Aug 15/2010
The sleep study was no big deal, the big problem comes later from the Ministry of Transportation. Nobody mentions that when you sign up because nobody would go and get listed as a criminal.
They will force you to buy a CPAP machine or yank your license.
Lose the weight instead, whatever it takes, stop eating so much is what worked for me. it is tough but not as bad as having the consequences, believe me.
The CPAP is like wearing a snorkel and mask for the rest of your life.
I finally lost 30 pounds and got exonerated by taking an oximeter test after using it for a year.
The CPAP will keep you awake again and again, you might not snore, but you will not sleep well, LOL!
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